‘Road to Drama’, a successful programme supporting the linguistic, cultural and social integration of foreign nationals in Slovenia, is continuing at Drama in the 2026/27 season.

The second cycle of the SNT Drama Ljubljana’s ‘Road to Drama’ language and cultural programme, held during the 2025/26 season, brought together 20 participants – one third more than the previous year. The final analysis of participants’ responses shows clear positive results in vocabulary development, greater confidence in using Slovenian, increased motivation to continue learning, and cultural and social integration. Drama will continue the programme in the 2026/27 season.

The language and cultural programme ‘Road to Drama’ is led by Špela Šinigoj, a long-standing theatre educator at the SNT Drama Ljubljana. It is designed to support the integration of foreign nationals living in Slovenia into the country’s cultural and social life, while introducing them to the Slovenian language through culture and theatre. The programme has grown out of many years of work in theatre education, an area that the SNT Drama Ljubljana has been developing systematically for more than a decade.

‘Road to Drama’ was never conceived as a one-off project. It grew out of meetings with groups of foreign nationals learning Slovenian. During their visits to the theatre, Drama began inviting them not only to take part in backstage tours, but also to attend performances, observe rehearsals and engage in post-show discussions. These encounters led to the Drama Package, which ran during the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons. Its expanded content subsequently developed into the comprehensive ‘Road to Drama’ programme in the 2024/25 season.

The programme combines the experience of theatre with active language use. Participants encounter Slovenian not simply as a language to be learned, but as a living language used in performance, conversation, creative work and social interaction. It aims to introduce participants to Slovenian culture, encourage them to express themselves independently and confidently, and open up the theatre as a space in which they can actively participate as audience members and interlocutors.

In the 2025/26 season, the programme consisted of fourteen sessions, varying in both content and approach. Key activities included three theatre shows, featuring rehearsals and discussions, and four hands-on creative workshops led by director Luka Marcen, Drama principal ensemble member Marko Mandić, language consultant Tatjana Stanič, and theatre and film actor and multiple national memory champion Nik Škrlec. Two group readings were held in collaboration with dramaturg Luna Pentek. As part of the programme and with the support of its theatre partners, Drama also organised a visit to the Slovenian Theatre Institute – Theatre Museum, as well as a closing event in September 2026 at the Drama Café at its venue at Litostrojska 56.

An important part of the organisational framework of ‘Road to Drama’ was also provided by Drama’s business manager, Barbara Štukelj, who handled applications for public tenders and oversaw the organisational, financial and administrative aspects of the project. Her work was instrumental in ensuring that the programme could be developed within a well-structured and reliable framework. As in 2025, the second cycle, held in 2026, was co-funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. During the selection process, the Expert Commission for the Slovenian Language awarded the project 86 points, highlighting in particular the quality of its content, its innovative and interactive methods, and its suitability for the target group. The commission described the programme as a continuation of a successful project that connects the use of Slovenian among non-native speakers with culture and theatre.

Review of the achievement of the ‘Road to Drama’ programme’s objectives

An analysis of the data collected from participants in the second cycle reveals a highly positive experience and highlights the importance of theatre as a space where language, cultural experience and community come together. 20 participants took part in the programme during the 2025/26 season. 17 participated in Road to Drama for the first time, while 3 had already taken part in the 2024/25 season; one of these had also participated in the preceding Drama Package programme in the 2023/24 season. The target of enrolling between 15 and 20 participants was therefore fully achieved.

The importance of having the opportunity to use Slovenian freely and actively is reflected in the baseline data: 13 of the 20 participants identified a lack of, or insufficient knowledge of, Slovenian as the greatest difficulty they faced in integrating into a new environment and society. The final analysis, however, paints a particularly encouraging picture in the areas at the heart of the programme’s objectives. All participants who completed the final survey said that the programme had enriched their vocabulary and increased their confidence in speaking and using Slovenian more generally. They also felt that the theatre workshops had contributed to their cultural and social integration in Slovenia. Every participant said they would recommend ‘Road to Drama’ to others.

Among the language skills they felt they had improved most through the programme, all participants in the final survey cited listening and comprehension; six highlighted speaking, and an equal number mentioned vocabulary. 64 per cent felt that their anxiety about speaking Slovenian had decreased, while the same proportion had learned new approaches or strategies for language learning. ‘Road to Drama’ also strengthened participants’ motivation to continue engaging with Slovenian. 91 per cent of those who completed the final survey said that the programme had encouraged them to read in Slovenian, while all said they were motivated to listen to Slovenian. By the end of the programme, the vast majority also reported increased motivation to continue improving their Slovenian. Equally important were the participants’ attitudes towards theatre and the wider cultural environment. 73 per cent said that, following their participation in ‘Road to Drama’, they found it easier to follow a theatre performance in Slovenian because they had a better understanding of the language, theatrical vocabulary and cultural context. 55 per cent felt that the programme had improved their theatre literacy. The majority also said that, through watching performances and discussing them, they had learned something new about Slovenian culture and history, and that theatre had helped them better understand Slovenian society and its values.

Among the activities they found most beneficial, participants most frequently highlighted group theatre visits, practical workshop exercises, discussions with theatre makers and improvisation. They described their experience in terms such as enjoyable, motivating, interesting, inspiring, useful, community, creative, new experiences, theatre and integration.

This sense of community is particularly evident in the video of the closing event accompanying this press release. The shared experience is summed up simply and directly: “We spent time together, watched performances, took part in workshops, talked and shared experiences and memories.” The message that has been reinforced throughout the project is also clearly reflected in the words of Špela Šinigoj at the closing event: “What we wanted has happened – a community has been created within the theatre and around the art of theatre.”

From Drama Package to ‘Road to Drama’ and beyond …

The results of the second cycle confirm the programme’s continuity. In the 2024/25 season, 15 participants took part in Road to Drama, while in 2025/26 there were 20, that is one third more. In both seasons, all participants stated in their final questionnaires that the programme had enriched their vocabulary, and all said they would recommend it to others. The first cycle demonstrated that connecting language learning with the experience of theatre can go beyond traditional forms of language education; the latest results further reinforce this approach.

Project funding has also played an important role in the programme’s development, enabling Drama to expand the content of the original initiative, involve new expert collaborators and develop it into a more ambitious programme. The public call for proposals for projects promoting the Slovenian language in 2025 was published in September 2024, while a similar call for 2026 was published in August 2025.

Drama will continue the ‘Road to Drama’ programme in the 2026/27 season, as announced at the closing event of the programme’s second cycle.

As the programme continues, a broader supportive environment for the development of similar linguistic and cultural initiatives remains important. The funding opportunities announced in 2024 and 2025 for projects to be carried out in 2025 and 2026 enabled the programme to expand its content and draw on additional specialist expertise. At Drama, we therefore hope that a comparable opportunity for project support will also be available in 2027. Such funding mechanisms allow successful initiatives to consolidate their position, build on what they have achieved and realise their full potential.

‘Road to Drama’ is one such example. What began as part of Drama’s long-standing efforts to bring theatre closer to people for whom access to it cannot be taken for granted has gradually developed into a programme that connects the Slovenian language with art, cultural experience and social interaction. Its success is therefore reflected not only in the figures, but also in the participants’ increased confidence, their stronger connection with the Slovenian language and theatre, and the community that has grown around the programme.